We live, simultaneously, in two different worlds. Ultimately, we live in the World of Nature, a world that we did not create and the world upon which all life depends. Most immediately, we inhabit a "human world" that we create ourselves. Because our human world is the result of our own choices and actions, we can say, quite properly, that we live, most immediately, in a “political world.” In this blog, I hope to explore the interaction of these two worlds that we call home.

About Me

Gary A. Patton

I was an elected official in Santa Cruz County, California for twenty years, from 1975 to 1995. Now, I am an environmental attorney, practicing law in Santa Cruz County. If you would like to contact me, send me an email at gapatton@mac.com.

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Sunday, December 27, 2015

#361 / There's [Not] Always Tomorrow

"There's Always Tomorrow" is a movie, which one critic calls a "sudsy but well-acted soap opera."

"There's Always Tomorrow" is a song, too, most famously recorded by Burl Ives.

Most of all, "There's Always Tomorrow" is a sentiment. It's what we feel. It's what we tell ourselves. It's a comforting thought.

During most of the years I was growing up, I had an ongoing disputation with my father, which surfaced in different specific circumstances, and which was always a "friendly" argument. The essence of the argument was this: I said things were coming to an end because it was clear that things couldn't go on the way they were. My Dad said, "things have always been like this" (and, implicitly, they always will be).

I'm older now than my Dad was when we had this ongoing argument. I wish I could say that age and reflection have brought me around, and convinced me he was right.